EUROPE BLOG May 4th, 2023 - PARIS

5/4/23- Due to the late night prior, we didn’t get to sleep until around 3am. Thankfully our hotel’s check-out isn’t until noon. They store our bags so we can go out for the day (as our train doesn’t depart until 7:07pm), and park ourselves at the Italian restaurant next door.

The food was pretty good as we shared a Prawn pasta meal, but nothing compared to what I have had previously. It fills us up just the same and gets us to a good start.

We take the metro (which is only a 3 minute walk away) to Montparnasse Tower. Mistakenly got the zone 1-3 day pass that cost us 5 more Euros each but whatever. We have to change trains, which we’re used to from New York, but both are delayed and don’t seem as efficient. We get there none-the-less around 1:15pm and head straight for the entrance. The top observatory on the 59^th floor is closed for (guess it? It’s a theme) Renovations.  They do have the restaurant open on the 56^th floor to view from. If you think there was a discount, think again as the price was an exaggerated 18 Euros each. Very pricy but the 360 degree views are pretty decent, and got a great look at the Eiffel Tower.

With more to see, we search for the metro station to take us to Montmartre area but get turned around at the train station by the same stop name. We waste about 30 minutes but eventually find the correct station and take the metro 14 stops.

Once out of the train, we climb perhaps around 200 steps (all in a spiral fashion) just to get out of the metro station as the elevator is not working. Sharece almost dies half way through, I’m not kidding. Somehow, someway, we both make it to street level only to be met with even more stairs going up to the Roman Catholic church of Sacre Coeur. She dies again! This time, however, I order an Uber to take us as far up as we can go to make the journey easier.

The vibe at the top is entertaining as live music is playing at the stairs of the basilica with almost every step occupied by people. It’s a Thursday, what is everyone doing out of work and school? This is when it starts raining, but it only last about 5 minutes before the sun comes out again. 

We go into the church to see the architecture and attempt to climb the stairs for the panoramic view, but Sharece put her foot down… literally. I’ve been here once before and am in no need of going up again without her, so we march down the steps for the metro back to our hotel (not before finding a house behind a hill that at the right angle appears to be sinking). Strangely, we notice armed guards walking the grounds as if patrolling. Not sure what this is about but machine guns are no joke.

Finally, we make it to our hotel around 5:40pm, change clothes, charge up our phones a bit and was about to relax when I notice the traffic to get to the train station changes from 15 minutes to 30 minutes. Quickly, we get our stuff together and call an Uber (which took about 5 minutes before someone actually took the fare, leaving me in a mini cold sweat). 

We get to the train station with 20 minutes to spare and luckily it’s not very problematic to navigate as we get to our train shortly after it arrives. We board the first cabin we see, find seats, plug in our phones and again start to relax when a man states we’re in his seat. I look at my ticket and he helps me locate our seat numbers, which is so small on the page that I didn’t even realize we had one. Wouldn’t you know it they’re actually just a few rows up in the same cabin. Man, we got lucky.

Four hours goes by pretty fast to get to Frankfurt, Germany. This is country #9 although technically we already passed through the train station before, but I don’t count that until now.

We get some sandwiches at the station and call an Uber. After getting in, I find that we have the wrong Sixt car rental place put in, and after trying to update the address, it didn’t go through. We are charged for that one block ride and have to pay cash for the correct one. I am able to only pay the difference as the Uber driver was super chill about it.

At the correct rental car place, I now realize that I reserved an “electric” vehicle, which is definitely not something I want to learn how to do in a foreign country. They allow me to switch to another for not much more and off we go. An hour later we make it to our AirBnb in Rudesheim, Germany.